Russian President Vladimir Putin passes a law prohibiting legal and surgical sex changes in the country. The law also bars transgender people from becoming adoptive parents and annuls marriages in which one person has changed gender.
The law was unanimously approved by both houses of parliament forbids any medical procedures intended to alter a person's sex, including hormonal therapy and gender-affirming surgeries.
Moreover, individuals will no longer be allowed to change their gender on official documents or in public records.
Lawmakers defended the law saying it aimed to protect Russia against “Western anti-family ideology”, and described gender transitioning as “pure satanism”.
Same-sex marriage was banned in Russia in 2020 and last year, Russia passed a law banning public displays and media portrayals of non-heterosexual identities.
Earlier, a health ministry order said Russian clinics would be staffed with sexologists to help patients "overcome" homosexuality and various sexual "mental disorders", Reuters reported.